ALBANY – Front-running gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer yesterday blasted Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed deal to have the Metropolitan Transportation Authority quickly sell the city the West Side rail yards for $500 million, saying it would shortchange the state.

Attorney General Spitzer, whose father, Bernard, is a prominent figure in the Manhattan real-estate industry, called the city’s offer to the state-controlled MTA “grossly under market value.”

“Any sale of an asset of this magnitude, size and value must only be approved after a process that is open, transparent, and provides an opportunity for public bidding,” said Spitzer, a Democrat.

“A sale of this proportion without public discourse would be wrong and inappropriate,” added Spitzer, saying Republican Bloomberg’s proposed purchase price is “only marginally closer to fair market value than the $100 million the Jets offered last year.”

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson insisted the gubernatorial hopeful was not seeking to delay the sale until a new governor takes office in January, although others familiar with the proposal said that was his intent.

Spitzer’s statement came a day after Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn disclosed they had proposed that the city purchase the 13-acre West Side rail yards site for an as-yet-undetermined purpose.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow responded that his agency would “give serous consideration to the city’s proposal.”

The MTA, which could consider the sale at a meeting later this month, refused to comment on Spitzer’s concerns.

Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff has said that if the proposal is accepted, the city would begin a study on how best to develop the rail yards in accordance with a master plan that calls for office and residential development.

Doctoroff said the city would pay for the land by using $300 million from its capital fund and $200 million from the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp., formed by the city to sell bonds to pay for West Side redevelopment.

“We don’t have a plan yet, but we want it to be consistent with the Hudson Yards district,” Doctoroff said earlier this week.

“It’s a fair price that reflects the market value and the cost of developing a platform” over the rail yards, he said.

But he added that the city was interested in developing the three-square-block site with less commercial projects than the MTA would likely do on its own.

A spokeswoman for Bloomberg called the city’s offer “beneficial to all parties.”

The western rail yard stretches from 11th to 12th avenues, between 33rd and 30th streets.

The MTA would keep a similarly sized rail yard between 10th and 11th avenues, where commercial towers, a plaza and a cultural institution are planned.

QUOTE

‘The city has proposed that it acquire the West Side rail yards from the MTA for $500 million. This is an amount grossly under market value.’